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American Morning

Katrina Response; Hollywood's Gold Rush

Aired March 03, 2006 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. The sun is coming up. It looks nice outside now.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It does look nice, particularly after yesterday. A long road home for you. Today should be a lot easier.

We have Mike Brown coming up. The former FEMA director is talking to the media. He was on Wolf Blitzer's program last night. We're going to follow up on that interview, ask him a few questions. Those tapes, those transcripts that are out, many people are viewing them as a bit of redemption for Mike Brown but we'll ask him about that, if he feels he is, in fact, redeemed.

COSTELLO: Well, the most interesting thing is what he said about Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security director.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes. He said he should go. And he's still defending the president, though. I want to ask him about that as well.

COSTELLO: It will be interesting.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: Let's head to the newsroom first, though, to check in with Kelly Wallace.

Good morning.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

And speaking of the president. President Bush set to take the podium next hour. He will deliver an address on the war on terror, what's being billed as the major speech of his trip to South Asia. The president also expected to touch on the nuclear deal made Thursday with India. The president's speech beginning at 8:15 a.m. Eastern. And, of course, we'll be taking that live here at AMERICAN MORNING.

The streets in Baghdad are relatively empty this morning. Police and soldiers are enforcing a daytime traffic curfew. It's meant to avert possible attacks during Friday prayers. In the meantime, Iraqi police now confirm an attack on some factories east of Baghdad. That attack happened last night. At least 18 workers were killed. British police say they have found some more of the millions nabbed in Britain's biggest heist. Police say they found the cash in bags in southeast London. In the meantime, a fourth person has been arrested in connection with that robbery. The man made a court appearance earlier today.

Former U.S. Congressman Randy Duke Cunningham facing 10 years in prison. He's expected to be sentenced in San Diego later today. Cunningham has pleaded guilty to accepting nearly $2.5 million in bribes. And those bribes came in many forms, including a Rolls Royce that Cunningham parked right in front of his house.

A possible new development in the case of that fugitive dad who was supposed to donate a kidney to his son. Well he may have been spotted in Mexico. A Washington state couple vacationing down there says they're convinced they spent time with Byron Perkins and his fugitive girlfriend, Lee Ann Howard. Anyone with information is asked to call police or this number, 1-877-WANTED2.

And remember the dummy in the carpool lane? We'll tell you about it. That Colorado man who was using a mannequin to drive alongside him so he could use the HOV lane. Well, he got caught. Here's a picture of the police officer holding the real dummy. A judge fined him $100. And starting on Monday, the man will have to stand along the freeway holding a sign, "HOV lane not for dummies."

Miles, that's part of his penalty, having to stand there holding that sign, letting people know, nope, you can't put a dummy in your car and think you can use that HOV lane.

MILES O'BRIEN: I think he's learned his lesson. What do you think?

WALLACE: I think so too.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right, thank you, Kelly.

Well, was he or wasn't he doing a heck of a job. The former FEMA director, Mike Brown, is in the midst of some revisionist history right now as new tapes and transcripts are released showing federal, state, local government officials in action talking about Katrina in the midst of that storm. Former FEMA Director Mike Brown joins us now live from Washington.

Mr. Brown, good to have you with us.

MICHAEL BROWN, FORMER FEMA DIRECTOR: Well, thank you, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Let me ask you this. As I look at those tapes and those transcripts, one of the things that I think might bother people the most is all the self-congratulations that were going on in the midst of a terrible disaster. There's this huge district there. Why were you all saying what a great job you doing when, in fact, that wasn't even close to being the case?

BROWN: Well, in fact, that's one of the mistakes that I've admitted to making during this whole debacle is, you know, in Washington, we have this tendency to walk to talk to the talking points and appear to the public that everything's under control. And one of the things that I've said is, I should have owned up to the public very early in this disaster, probably on Monday and Tuesday, that how catastrophic it was, how serious it was and that we were going to have problems. And I think had I done that, the American public probably would have been a little more accepting of some of the problems that we did have.

MILES O'BRIEN: So why were you reluctant to do that? Because either you didn't recognize the extent of the problem or you were trying to gloss it over? Either way, that's not good.

BROWN: Right, either way, it's not good. But what it really is, it's this mindset in Washington, D.C., we always have to put a good face on everything. And as I've testified and said in other interviews, I think sometimes we, inside this beltway, believe that the American public can't handle the truth. And I just -- that's a lesson that I've learned the hard way and I think we need to get beyond that and just start being honest with the public and telling them exactly what's going on.

MILES O'BRIEN: A little honesty would be a nice thing.

You know what I see there is evidence of a bureaucracy that is completely dysfunctional. And it's frightening to me when you consider the stakes of all of this. Are we at a point now where the government just can't do what it's supposed to do?

BROWN: Well, I hope that, you know, one of the things that comes out of these tapes is, in 2003, 2004 and 2005, inside the Department of Homeland Security, I was raising those alarm bells. I was sounding those alarms and saying we've got to fix this. That what you're doing to it is going to ultimately cause FEMA to fail. What I didn't think was that I would still be there when it did fail. And so I hope that now Secretary Chertoff will go back and actually read those memos and understand what I was trying to do and actually fix it now.

MILES O'BRIEN: You talk about Secretary Chertoff, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Yesterday on the Wolf Blitzer show you said he should resign. Why?

BROWN: Well, because, you know, I think that actually -- and it's not for me to say that he should or should not. But, frankly, he . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: But your opinion is he should step down?

BROWN: Yes, because he has not grasped what needs to be done. I mean, by letting FEMA be torn apart as it was, by sending me to Baton Rouge and saying that you've got to keep your butt in a chair in Baton Rouge and run a disaster from there, I think it's just naive. In the 160 disasters that I've successfully handled, I did that by being out in the field, being out in there with the people to find out what they need so I could fix that bureaucracy if indeed it was slowing things down. MILES O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the entire investigation of all of this. You've released a lot of those e-mails. Some of them that didn't necessarily cast you in a great light. The White House has not released a lot of traffic or e-mails, has resisted the call for an independent investigation. Don't you think an independent investigation is a good idea? And shouldn't the White House be a little more forthcoming?

BROWN: Well, this may come as a surprise to you, but I don't think an independent commission is the right thing to do. You know it's time for these people behind me in Capitol Hill to stand up and do their job and they need to do the investigation, get over the partisan bickering and do your job as members of the U.S. Congress and the Senate. You do the investigation. You do the reports. Quit running to independent commissions to do it.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, but the concern is that these days everything is so partisan and that if you don't do it that way, it doesn't have the impact or the credibility.

BROWN: Well, then the American public should demand of their individual representatives to stop being so partisan and demand that they sit down and find the truth and report the truth. That's what the public should demand of these men and women on Capitol Hill.

MILES O'BRIEN: You were talking about Secretary Chertoff, in essence saying he's kind of over his head, doesn't understand things. Are you willing to admit that you were a little bit over your head?

BROWN: No, I was not. I knew what I was doing. And if you listen to those tapes, I was concerned about the Superdome. It was 12 feet below sea level. I was concerned because the city wasn't taking care of people in the hospitals and people -- and even in prisons. And so I knew what I was doing. But I was hamstrung and prevented from doing what I need to do as an emergency manager. Now at some point the catastrophe did overwhelm FEMA. There's no question about that. And that's when we started asking for the army. And if you look at some of those e-mails, I'm actually screaming, where's the army? I need the army right now.

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, why -- maybe that should have been done a little sooner. Shouldn't this have been federalized earlier on when you have somebody like Max Mayfield saying, you know, this is very grave. We're concerned about these levees being overtopped. Federalizing, bringing in those active duty troops, sooner rather than later, you got nothing to lose, right?

BROWN: Absolutely. And, in fact, my federal coordinating officer, Bill Loki (ph), and I, had those exact same conversations by Tuesday, saying that we needed to federalize. And I started having those conversations with the president and the White House on Tuesday about we're going to have to have DOD support. And Secretary England, the deputy secretary at the Pentagon, absolutely promised whatever we needed we could get. It took us a little longer than I wanted, but we were having those conversations about federalizing and I was actually discussing that with the governor as early as Tuesday and Wednesday. MILES O'BRIEN: But why weren't you banging your fist on the desk saying, you know, GD, let's get 'em going? We need to -- you know, Honore style, you know what I mean?

BROWN: Well, and I think that's the second mistake I made, is I was doing that privately behind the scenes. And at some point I should have gone public and said, you know, dag gum it, we need to do this and I don't know what's holding it up back in Washington, D.C., but let's cut through it right now and make it happen. You're absolutely right, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Now you're critical of Mr. Chertoff and yet you're holding fire against the president. But ultimately the president is responsible for what happened here.

BROWN: Well, sure.

MILES O'BRIEN: So why are you protecting the president still?

BROWN: Well, I'm not protecting the president, but I think that, again, the media has focused on these videotapes and said, look, he sat in that briefing and he didn't ask a question. That's not the point. He and I were having conversations about what was going on throughout it. Now I will say that I think the mistake the president did make is that he was overconfident in FEMA. Despite my entreaties about what was happening to FEMA, that was falling on deaf ears in the White House and I do believe that's a mistake that they did make. I think that they thought having seen what I had done in 2004 in Florida and other places, I think they assumed that, well know, Brown's whining about what's happened to FEMA. He'll make it happen anyway.

MILES O'BRIEN: A final thought here. You know 1,300 people are dead, billions of dollars in losses. Do you owe the American people an apology

BROWN: I've apologized to the American people for the mistakes that I've made. And I've owned up to those. And I think it's time for everybody else to own up to their mistakes, too.

MILES O'BRIEN: Mike Brown, thanks for being with us.

BROWN: Thank you, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: We'll continue this discussion a little later. White House Deputy Press Secretary Trent Duffy (ph) will be with us. He'll join us in the 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time hour of AMERICAN MORNING.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Fascinating. Let's head to Atlanta now to check on the weather. Chad is standing by.

Good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Andy's "Minding Your Business" just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Andy, what's coming up?

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, Chanel, Valentino and JC Penney? We'll tell you how the regular retailer plans to go upscale.

Plus, is Google going back to the moon, Alice? Stay tuned for that on AMERICAN MORNING coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SERWER: I like (INAUDIBLE).

COSTELLO: I did too.

SERWER: Some great lyrics.

COSTELLO: Oh, it reminds me of some good times actually.

MILES O'BRIEN: Just like you this morning.

SERWER: I'm trying. It does remind you of good -- do tell.

COSTELLO: No.

MILES O'BRIEN: We want to know. We can cancel this next segment. Go ahead.

COSTELLO: No, I think we should get to Andy and the word of JC Penney.

MILES O'BRIEN: We want to know.

COSTELLO: Hi, Andy.

JC Penny's going upscale.

SERWER: Hi, Carol.

Yes, they are. We're talking Oscar night here again, which is on Sunday night. And, of course, when you think of the red carpet, you think of designer dresses, Chanel, Carolina, Herrera, if I'm saying that correctly, and Valentino.

COSTELLO: Yes.

SERWER: But you know what the largest and exclusive, in fact, retailing advertiser of the Oscars is, JC Penney. And they're not going to be . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: Jacque Pena (ph).

SERWER: Yes, Jacque Pena. And they're not going to be shilling lawn care or hardware. They're going to be talking about their designer clothes. And, of course, they have some kind of new designer wear that they're going to be (INAUDIBLE). MILES O'BRIEN: What is it, Granimals (ph)?

COSTELLO: (INAUDIBLE) design . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: What kind of designer clothes are we talking about here?

COSTELLO: Wait, wait, wait, wait.

SERWER: I don't know. I don't wear designer clothes or, and I frankly don't get clothes at JC Penny either. So, you know, I'm just telling it like it is here. OK. They have got some designer wear they're going to be talking about on Oscar night.

COSTELLO: OK.

SERWER: Honest.

COSTELLO: OK.

MILES O'BRIEN: Leave it at that. We'll leave it out (ph). We believe you.

SERWER: But, you know, 41 million viewers watch, 60 percent of them are women, so it's a big market. You know, it's hard to get that kind of big market on TV anymore.

I want to talk about Google a little bit. You know, I think this is a little cynical. You may remember earlier this week a Google executive was a little to honest, TMI moment, to much information, said that the company's growth prospects were slowing. Well, in fact, they are slowing. You can't keep that kind of growth up forever. And the stock crashed.

Yesterday, another Google executive said, well, we're going to become a hundred billion dollar company. Well, that's interesting because they only have six billion in sales. Six billion here, a hundred billion there.

COSTELLO: Wow.

SERWER: I mean, come on. You know that's like me saying, I want to retire to Palm Springs a very wealthy man. Well, sure.

COSTELLO: Well he was making up for the other guy.

SERWER: Yes, right, and so the stock went way up yesterday.

MILES O'BRIEN: It's the ying and yang. Well, when they say a hundred billion, in what time frame is the key thing. If they're saying in 60 years, you know.

SERWER: Yes, but that's right. I mean at some point we're all going to . . .

COSTELLO: You've underestimated Google before, though. SERWER: Yes, I have. That's true.

MILES O'BRIEN: We have the cupcakes to prove it.

SERWER: We do. Are you buying me them on the way down, though, that was my question to Soledad.

MILES O'BRIEN: Is that how it works? I believe we do have to buy you cupcakes on the way down. Soledad knows anyway.

SERWER: Yes.

COSTELLO: And enough of that. Let's talk Hollywood now because it's gearing up for Oscar night.

SERWER: Yes.

COSTELLO: And Sibila Vargas is there live.

Sibila.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, two days till the big day. Of course we're talking Oscars. I'll bring you some highlights when CNN's AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: Good music selections this morning, I'd say.

COSTELLO: Excellent.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, is that Jerry (ph) on the board. Jerry, are you doing that? Good job.

Hollywood heavyweights going for the gold. It is Oscar weekend, of course. The 78th Annual Academy Awards. Sibila Vargas got up early for us. What is it, it's 3:50, no 4:52 in the morning -- new math, 4:52 in the morning in Los Angeles.

Thank you for getting up for us. You look lovely this morning. We're so happy you're with us.

VARGAS: Thank you. Of course, I'd be here for you guys.

But whether it's the controversial love story of "Brokeback Mountain" or the racial tensions explored in "Crash," when it comes to this year's batch of Oscar nominees in the best picture category, I'll tell you, Miles, the one thing that they all have in common, they have zust (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "CAPOTE": I haven't written a word yet.

VARGAS, (voice over): Journalistic ethics explored in "Capote" and "Good Night and Good Luck." UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to go with the story.

VARGAS: A controversial gay love story in "Brokeback Mountain."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN": I wish I knew how to quit you.

VARGAS: The hot button issue of racism in "Crash."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "CRASH": Do we look threatening?

VARGAS: And terrorism and its legacy in "Munich."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "MUNICH": We have 11 Palestinian names.

VARGAS: The Oscar nominees for best picture are a mix of movies with political and social themes.

DAVE KARGER, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: As opposed to years past when the Oscars have really been dominated by more big budget, special effect movies like "Titanic" or "Lord of the Rings," this year's best picture nominees seem to be smaller movies that have a lot more on their mind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to go right at him.

VARGAS: What's behind the season of thinking films?

KARGER: The last few years have been a very politically divisive and politically vibrant time in this country and I think the film industry this year has really started reacting to that.

VARGAS: And the country appears to have embraced these message laden films. All the best picture candidates are money-makers, but the Oscar-nominated stars are focused on the big night.

FELICITY HUFFMAN, "TRANSAMERICA": Well, I'm feeling completely ecstatic.

JAKE GYLLENHAAL, "BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN": I'm good. I just wrapped a movie, so I'm tired. Excited.

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, "PRIDE AND PREJUDICE": I think it's going to be amazing. Sit down, people watch. It should be cool.

VARGAS: Winners to watch for? "Brokeback Mountain" will be tough to beat in the best picture category, but "Crash" may have a chance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have no idea.

VARGAS: Phillip Seymour Huffman, who has already won numerous awards for his work in "Capote," is considered a frontrunner in the best actor category. And industry experts say Reese Witherspoon will likely walk away with the best actress Oscar for her performance in "Walk The Line."

But until the envelopes are opened and the winners are announced, Hollywood is bustling as the Oscar statuettes are delivered, party preparations are finalized, and that fame red carpet is rolled into place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS: And adding to the interesting mix of contenders, of course, will be the show's host, which, of course, will be "Daily Show's" Jon Stewart who will be hosting the show for the very first time. The Oscars will be handed out this Sunday.

And, of course, Miles, we will be here on the red carpet giving you all the highlights and we've got a special at 6:00 p.m. Eastern, so you stay tuned to watch, OK.

MILES O'BRIEN: Absolutely. Now you are just going to camp out at the Kodak Theater from here on out, right? Pretty much?

VARGAS: I sure am, until like 7:30 tonight.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right. And what do you think . . .

VARGAS: Wish me luck.

MILES O'BRIEN: Do you think Jon Stewart's going to be a hit?

VARGAS: It will be interesting. I mean, but if you look at all the contenders this year, they haven't done that well in the box office. So there's all this question about whether middle America is going to be tuning in. We'll see. We'll see. But Jon Stuart, he does very good in Los Angeles and New York. Let's see what happens with the rest of the world.

MILES O'BRIEN: We'll see. All right, Sibila Vargas, thanks for getting up early.

In our 9:00 hour, Bradley Jacobs from "US Weekly" will make his predictions for this year's Oscar winners. You're going to want to listen to those because he's good at predictions.

And CNN and "Headline News" will be live on the red carpet Sunday night. AJ Hammer, Brooke Anderson and Sibila Vargas, seen seconds ago here, will have a special Oscar edition of "Showbiz Tonight" at 5:30 Eastern on "Headline News." Then at 6:00 they swap on over to CNN. The live coverage moving there for a big program we call "Hollywood's Gold Rush."

COSTELLO: Sounds good.

Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, top stories. Gunmen kill at least 18 in Iraq.

We'll bring you President Bush's speech live from India.

There's more fallout from the government's Katrina response.

Students protest after a teacher compares the president to Hitler.

And the so-called cell phone bandit faces sentencing. Also, a look at how much time she could spend behind bars.

That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien.

COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello, in for Soledad.

MILES O'BRIEN: We're awaiting the main speech of President Bush's South Asian trip expected to begin in just a few minutes. We'll bring it to you live from India as soon as it happens right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

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